Testing AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS service in Seattle reveals weakness in software, performance: Wi-Fi Networking News's Nancy Gohring filed a report for The Seattle Times today in which she offers her real-world experience with AT&T Wireless's EDGE service and Sprint PCS's CDMA 1x (1xRTT). Both had pros and cons.
Nancy couldn't get AT&T Wireless's EDGE to perform above GPRS speeds. As this post at AT&T's own support boards indicates, this is a widespread problem despite AT&T's repeated claim that EDGE is available in essentially its entire urban coverage area.
The Sprint PCS service worked extremely well for Nancy--I had the same experience with Verizon Wireless's 1xRTT last summer in a test--but the installation process was a nightmare. The Novatel PC Card apparently doesn't have Microsoft signed Windows XP drivers, because Nancy received the warning that Microsoft can't guarantee the drivers will work. And you have to be in network range to install the software--a fact that should probably be mentioned somewhere.
By this fall at latest, Seattle will see UMTS service from AT&T Wireless and 1xEvDO from Verizon Wireless, at which point the ante will be raised. For $80 per month, speeds of hundreds of kilobits per second become a reasonable broadband service replacement if you're in an area that can't get DSL or a cable modem or you want high-speed at home and when you roam.